A Good Adventure
by angellwings
Summary: Fran needs a good adventure to read but what she finds at the Library is a much bigger adventure than she expected.


**A/N:** Not sure if this will be more than a one shot or not, but I sat down the other night and thought about Jungle Fury and how amazing Fran was. She needed an adventure of her own and who's the best at finding people who feel ordinary an showing them how actually extraordinary they are? Well, The Doctor, of course. So here's a fun test of Fran and the Doctor.

Enjoy!

angellwings

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A Good Adventure

by angellwings

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Fran had been home for nearly a year, and absolutely nothing had happened since she and Dom had returned from abroad. Well, they'd moved in together, and he'd managed to settle down a bit. He'd gotten his master qualification and taught classes at the Pai Zhua. That was just exciting enough to keep him interested.

She was happy and thankful.

But…what about her? Was part time at Jungle Karma supposed to be enough for her? Where was her adventure? The others had Pai Zhuq and their time as Power Rangers. All she had was months of being on the sidelines acting as moral support.

She sighed as she wandered through the library and casually glanced through the shelves. Nope, read that. She thought as she glanced at the spine of an old book. That one too.

And that one.

And that one.

Yes, and that one.

Good lord. Had she read the whole library? Was that how sad her life was? That she had time to read a whole library full of books?

"Try this one," an accented voice said as a hand appeared in front of her holding a thin ragged book.

Fran looked up hesitantly to find a man with brown pointy hair and glasses grinning at her. "What is it?"

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

"Oh, I've read that," Fran said with a sad grin. "It's unfinished."

"Not this one. This one has an ending. A rather brilliant one actually," he told her.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Is this one of those things another author writes about what _they_ think should have happened? Like all those 'sequels' to _Pride and Prejudice_?"

He chuckled at her and shook his head. "No, this was written by the man himself."

"But Dickens never wrote an ending to _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_ —"

"Not one that was published. This one was given to me in his will."

"In his—you're joking. You're teasing me, aren't you?" Fran asked skeptically.

"No, I'm not," he said plainly. "I would never tease anyone about a good book. That's what you're here for isn't it? A good book."

"More like a good adventure," She said with a small smile. "It's the only time I get to have them these days."

"So, you like adventures?" He asked.

She nodded.

"And traveling I suppose?"

"Yes, I, um, I went traveling for a little while, actually. With my boyfriend," Fran told him excitedly. "I saw all the places I ever dreamed of seeing."

"On _this_ planet?"

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Nevermind," he said with a smirk. "What's your name, fellow explorer?"

"Fran," she said as she held out her hand for him to shake.

He took her hand and shook it gently. "Hello. I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor? Doctor Who?" She asked with a furrowed brow.

There was a large bang from behind them and Fran jumped. The Doctor smiled brightly and raced a few paces ahead of her. "Oh here we go! About time you acted up! I've been waiting on you all day!"

"Waiting for who?" Fran asked worriedly.

"Him!" The Doctor said as he pointed toward the far stacks in the library.

"There's no one there," Fran said as she gave him a worried look. "Are you okay?"

"Oh no, he's there. You just can't see him," The Doctor told her.

There was a loud roar and then one of the large stacks fell over onto a tall set of shelves. In a moment it had caused a domino effect until every set of shelves in the library had fallen over. Books were everywhere and somewhere in front of them Fran heard a huff and a groan.

"Are you telling me that there's some kind of invisible animal in this library?" Fran asked as she looked around for other people. But there was no one. The Library was empty. "Wait. Where'd everyone go? There's no one here."

"No, there never was."

"B—but I saw them! Peggy was at the front desk. I went to school with her. She was here."

"No, she really wasn't. Peggy's been gone for quite some time, unfortunately."

"What do you mean by that? I talked to her when I left yesterday!"

"You thought you did. She looked like Peggy, sounded like Peggy, even acted like Peggy, but—"

"She wasn't Peggy."

"Exactly! Fantastic creature created a grand illusion! Kept the Library open in order to conceal himself. It's brilliant!"

"Is she…is she dead?"

"Who?"

"Who?! Peggy! Is Peggy dead?"

"Oh, I don't know."

Fran sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't. Men never think about the big questions. You're too busy being fascinated by an impossible creature or a beautiful scientist to pay attention to the _real_ things. I'll have to find out if she's alive for myself."

Fran rolled up her sleeves and glared at the empty space in front of them. She could hear whatever it was breathing.

"What have you done with Peggy?" Fran shouted. "She was my friend and if you've hurt her then I—well, then I have some friends who would _love_ to meet you."

The Doctor quirked a brow at her and grinned when she was met with silence. "I think you scared him."

"Good! I don't like it when things hurt my friends! What is he anyway? And why is he here? What could he possibly want in Ocean Bluff?"

"He doesn't. He's stuck here. Stranded. I'm not sure what he is. Whatever he uses to create the illusion of people also hides him from sight," The Doctor said observantly.

A growl sounded and Fran felt something slam into her and knock her into the Doctor. The doors to the library flew open suddenly.

"Oh no you don't!" The Doctor said as he grabbed Fran's hand and ran out the door. "You're not getting away before I get a good look at you!"

Fran kept a tight hold of the book The Doctor had given her and her purse as he whisked her away. "How are we going to follow it if we can't see where it's going?"

The Doctor paused in his stride and turned to face her. "Right, good point." He pulled a weird thin flashlight out of his coat and pointed it through the wooden doors of the Library. "If I can just get a reading on it then I might be able to track it."

"If you can track it with that thing, can you also identify it?" Fran asked curiously.

He glanced up at her and grinned. "In fact I can, but not here. I need my TARDIS."

"TARDIS?"

"My box. Come on, I'll show you," he said as he held out a hand to her.

She bit her bottom lip before reluctantly accepting his hand.

"Here we go!" He yelled as he pulled her along behind him. The rounded a corner from the Library and large blue box appeared.

"Police Public Call Box?" Fran asked. "What's that?"

"It's a phone box you use when you need help," he answered with a grin. "Or it used to be. You don't see them anymore."

"So now when people need help, you show up in that?" She asked knowingly. "That's very fitting. I like it."

"You think you like it now," he told her. "Wait till you see the inside."

He snapped his fingers and the doors opened. He raced inside and she hung back with a doubtful expression. "Don't you think it might be a little cramped—" his hand reached outside the door and pulled her in. She gasped at the size of the interior and the large open room that greeted her. "It's—"

The Doctor gave her a knowing look as if he knew just what she was about to say.

"—It's a pocket dimension!" she exclaimed excitedly.

The Doctor's brow furrowed and his shoulders sagged. "Normally people just tell me it's bigger on the inside."

"All of this is compressed in it's own dimension that's attached to the exterior of a phone booth! Amazing!"

"It's a Police Box, actually, but yes," The Doctor said as he stuck his thin blue flashlight into the middle round console. "Now that you've ruined my favorite moment of every trip, let's track this beautiful beasty."

"Is it an animal or a monster?" Fran asked him thoughtfully.

He gave her a small smirk. "You believe there's a difference?"

"A monster acts with intent," she told him firmly. "Trust me, I've seen enough of those to know. An animal acts on instinct."

"You know, Fran, despite you ruining my big moment," The Doctor said as he leaned against the console. "I quite like you. You're taking this in stride."

"Yeah, well, when your boyfriend and best friends used to run around in multicolored spandex driving giant robots there's not much left that can surprise you," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"That sounds like some rubbish kids show from the 1990s," The Doctor told her with a grin.

"Basically," she said with a laugh.

"They ever let you join them?" He asked curiously. "You're not exactly the shrinking violet I expected, yelling at the beasty like you did."

"No, I was strictly moral support," she answered with a sigh. "They all had this grand adventure and all I could do was watch."

"Well, then, I think it's time you had an adventure of your own," He told her as the console ejected his flashlight. "Hang on to something." She grabbed one of the railings as he jerked a lever on the console and the ship shook, groaned, and then took off. "Allons-y!" He yelled with a laugh as they sped off into the unknown.

What had she gotten herself into?


End file.
